Pointless Planning vs. Timeless Trust

Have you ever felt like things are about to turnaround for you and you begin to think, “This is my chance to finally get my life together – get fit, eat right, quit my job, launch out and follow my dreams.” I’ve been there before and alas! I’m often disappointed by surprises from the unknown and life’s eventualities.

You see life happens, ALL the time! Stuff you never planned for and would prefer not to happen, pop-up a bit too often – seasons of illness, financial constraints and debt, car trouble, work stress, family turmoil, loss of a loved one – there’s always something to derail one’s rose-coloured vision of the perfect life. Such things we simply cannot plan or prepare ourselves for. We don’t know which crisis will hit, and at what inopportune time they will occur. Life just happens, whenever it does.

¹³ Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” ¹⁴ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  James 4:13-15

And so I’ve stopped planning and scheduling. I feel like if I continue to do that, I’m just setting up myself for disappointment and frustration. Instead, I’m learning to trust God with my days, my weeks, months and years. Since letting go,  I have been experiencing true joy and peace. Even on rough days and in crisis, I find thanksgiving and praises to God rising from within me. I’m no longer operating based on my schedule, but on God’s. Therefore, whatever happens, good or bad, I rest knowing that God is in control, and  he is working all things together for my good. I place all my desires, wants and needs to him in prayer and believe him for his best. Even if the week doesn’t go exactly as I asked, I believe it went the way God wanted it to.

I’m less emotionally stressed when I trust God, rather than fighting with life and striving for things to happen when and how I want them to. The Sovereign God, who created this universe, and holds it all together with his power, will and might, is working in my favour to enable and equip me to fulfill his purpose in this earth – not my will or my purpose or my plan, but His. Therefore, he is responsible for me, for my inward mindset and character, as well as for aligning all the external factors to accomplish that which was predestined before time. To be honest, when I allow God to work out things in my life, it turns out so much better than how I could’ve planned it or envisioned it.

God will get his way! “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21

So again today I surrender my desires, nice-to-haves, ideals, and dreams to my creator, the author and perfecter of my faith (Heb. 12:2). As the architect and builder of my life, God knows my purpose, and how I need to be formed to walk in that purpose (Eph 2:10). He holds my days and my times (Psalm 31:15, Job 14:5). In him, I live, move and have my being (Acts 17:28). He knows my desires, because he placed them within me. As I remain connected to him, my source, I will accomplish his will.

The beautiful thing that we often miss in the busyness of life, is that our pursuits are not the end in themselves, and neither can they be. They do not hold the joy, peace and security that we really long for. Rather, it is Jesus who is the ultimate fulfillment. Jesus is the prize, he is the goal. It is he who satisfies. So in whatever season of life I am in – if I have plenty or little, whether I am enduring the mundane or transitioning to newness – Jesus is the constant that keeps me sober, refreshed and satisfied. This is the reason for my timeless trust in Him.

Kdeen Wildman (C) All Rights Reserved